The only constant is change.

I know it's bee. A while since I wrote anything, but it has t been due to no gaming to write about. I've been working on Ocean Thunder, I've tweaked some of the rules for movement and gunnery.

For movement I have cut the distance moved by half and have been thinking of changing up how the ships turn during their movement. Instead of having a given angle they can turn at the end of movement they will instead have a template that is used to push the ship around. This looks like it will help keep the opposing forces from closing too quickly. Also the changes made in the ships turning will be more realistic.

The gunnery changes have really been streamlined. I'm not worrying about a percentage of shells possibly hitting the target area anymore. All guns that can be brought to bear will have a die rolled for it. In doing so I have also made the to it number based on distance one higher at each range bracket. I think it has become a more playable game in that a player is able to control more ships at a time with out making it an all day affair just to complete a single turn.

I really think the changes are going to make this a more modern feeling game. The game design is so much more advanced than I had it before.

Keep watching for more updates.

Tanks for the memories

So it isn't exactly later today but here are some pictures of some of my vehicles I'm painting up for my Czech micro-scale force.

T-72 MBT

More T-72s

OT-64 APC

Yes, that thing in the middle is a GamaGoat built and used by the US Army during the late 60s and early to mid 70s. It was also seen in Stripes as truck used by the Czechs. In particular, Bill Murray as he is driving in front of the EM-50 into the Czech Army base.

Although I don't have a picture of it yet, I do have a platoon of the M48s with M60 turrets ready to go, again as seen as Czech tanks in Stripes.

I think it will be fun to put those out, I suspect I might get a few strange looks. But that's half the fun.

Stay tuned for more posts. I will probably be discussing Ocean Thunder on my next post. I'm planning on running it this weekend. I'll post pictures, if I remember to take any.

It's like going to Wisconsin...

C'mon, it's Czechoslovakia. We zip in, we pick 'em up, we zip right out again. We're not going to Moscow. It's Czechoslovakia. It's like going into Wisconsin. 

One of the greatest lines from one of my favorite movies from the 80s, Stripes. With that in mind I decided to create an early 80s Czechoslovakia Army force for micro-scale armor. I started with getting some OT-64s for CinC miniatures. Then picked up some M48s with M60 turrets (as seen in the movie) and some T-72s.

I decided to go with a basic WARPAC green paint scheme. I will be posting pictures later of the newly painted vehicles later today when I get them taken.

Be on the look out.

Combined Arms: Modern Combat in Micro-Scale

As stated in my previous post I am working on a set of rules for modern combat. Again as with Ocean Thunder it started with a friend, this time Evan, and I not liking any of the offerings out there. We wanted a quick and easy set of rules that would allow us to play a company to battalion level game in roughly two and a half to three hours with believable combat results and game outcome.

Evan had been working on the basis of this for a while before he came to me and asked if I would give what he day a look over. After a quick once over I saw that it had potential but needed some touching up. I expressed my interest to work on this with him and for the past four months or so we have been play testing the rules making adjustments and generally busting our chops on the rules. We feel we have a pretty good core of rules going and we have tested it up to battalion to regiment level at our local game store, Great Hall Games here in Austin. Everyone that plays it has been pleasantly surprised by the set and want to see us continue with the development.

This has also generated a rush on Micro-Scale minis at the store, anything that will help our FLGS keep running is good in my book.

Here are some pictures I have taken while working on this project so far.

 M2 Bradley.

 M1A1

 M60A3

My mixed armor/mech infantry task force. There is a Company of M1s, a company of M60A3s, a company of mech infantry with M113s and their weapons platoon with 2 M901s and 3 M125s (81mm mortar carriers.) Along with 2 F-4 Phantoms and 2 AH-1 Cobras.

The table was 5x8, I don't think anything smaller would have done it justice. Here the armor can be seen rolling up the main road and some infantry following and moving into position  at the first town.

The Sovs brought three battalions. One with T-72s, one with T-62s and a mech infantry battalion. after four and a half hours it was determined that the Sovs had kept the Americans from successfully completing their mission.

Much fun was had and people are asking Evan and me when we are going to run the game again. I'm glad people are enjoying it. I'm also glad I have Ocean Thunder to work on. In the past I got burnt out to easy when working on the rules, now I can bounce between the two.

Please leave any comments and suggestions.

Keep tuned for further developments.

Ocean Thunder: Redux

Around 1990 or so my best friend, Chris Coupland, and I decided to get into World War II naval combat gaming. We found a set of rules titled General Quarters. After reading the rules and playing our first game using the ship pieces from my Axis and Allies board game we decided it was lacking in some places. Specifically we felt their was a lack of definition between the various war ships. And thus we started to make changes and alterations to the rules. I spent many hours and dimes at the public library photo copying pages from between the covers of Jane's Fighting Ships: World War II studying all there was to know about ships of the line form the middle of the last century. In all that fiddling with the rules to make them fit with what we wanted them to be, the game was being morphed to something that was nothing like the original game but still clung to some of the original precepts. What ever we did we couldn't seem to get by that. Until my wife, at the time, suggested we just start from scratch and write the rules we wanted. 

Fast forward to around 1996, we introduced Ocean Thunder to the gaming world at a now defunct gaming convention named Skirmishes. The game was so well received that not only did we have to add additional sessions of the game, we won a near unanimous decision as "Game of the Year".

Fast forward again to 2013. I have been working on a set of rules for modern combat using micro-armor with a friend, Evan, and commented to him it was cool working on writing game rules again. He asked me what I had worked on before and I explained to him about Ocean Thunder. He wanted to play it. So I dusted off my old GHQ fleet, found the rules in the deepest darkest reaches of my computer (I have been transferring to each new computer for the last twenty plus years) and introduced him to the game. He had such a good time with it he asked me why I hadn't done anything with it. 

So here I am, writing a blog about my old navy game being dusted off and reworked to pull it out of the dark ages of gaming and getting polished up to be able to present to the world once again.

I will also be writing about the adventures, trials and tribulations of working on the micro-armor rules.

Keep your eyes out for further postings.